The extraordinary story of Michael Smith, a man who rose from humble beginnings in Blackpool, England, to become a revolutionary gene researcher, philanthropist and Nobel Prize winner. A professor at the University of British Columbia, Smith dedicated his talent and energy to science research, and later launched the university's internationally regarded Biotechnology Laboratory. The authors present not only the career and science of a great Canadian scientist, but also the politics and personalities of university research.

Eric Damer is an historian with a particular interest in the ways in which university research and education influence the community. The author of Discovery by Design (Ronsdale, 2002), he makes his home in Vancouver, BC.

Eric Damer is an historian with a particular interest in the ways in which university research and education influence the community. The author of Discovery by Design (Ronsdale, 2002), he makes his home in Vancouver, BC.

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Reader Reviews

No Ordinary Mike: Michael Smith, Nobel Laureate

This biography of Michael Smith, the University of British Columbia professor who received the 1993 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, begins with Smith’s education in the UK during World War II and his recruitment to UBC in 1956. It traces Smith’s research career in biochemistry and molecular biology, in establishing the UBC Biotechnology Laboratory, and helping launch Canada’s Genome Sequencing Centre, up to his untimely death in 2000. In addition to revealing the personality and characteristics of a great scientific intelligence, this biography also illustrates the interplay of university politics and demonstrates the import of public and private scientific funding to research.

Eric Damer is the author of Discovery by Design. Caroline Astell was a research colleague of Michael Smith.